Sisters
by bakamon
Summary: A series of drabbles on Karin, Orihime, and Rukia and how they relate to their families in their roles as sisters. Feedback welcomed.
1. Middle Sister of Steel: Karin

"You should never look down on a sister except to pick her up." - Unknown

There was a time when a mother had existed at the Kurosaki house. A time when she was young and she could cry to her mother all she had wanted. In fact, she probably cried even more than Yuzu.

But also a time when the mother had died. Existing nevertheless, a father, a big brother, and a little sister. To fill the void, Yuzu took it upon herself to fill the blank space in the home that was desperately needed. Dad still presided over his role, albeit very eccentrically. Ichi-nii filled his role in the household as the older brother. But what was she to do? She could not cook, she couldn't clean, she couldn't do anything a mother could. No one was there for her to cry to anymore. So she stopped. Altogether, she quit crying and began to get stronger. She didn't need anyone to get worried about her, not Ol' Beardo, Ichi-nii, or even Yuzu.

She cried not once in seven years. Not when she was in first grade and lost a fight with a sixth grader while trying to protect someone weaker than them. Not when she was in second grade and was chewed out by the principal for throwing a ball too hard at a kid who probably had it coming anyways. Not even while she broke her leg while hiking on some school trip in third grade. Through the years, no argument arose that the emotionally strongest was the middle sister.

There, in the Kurosaki house, was the pillar of strength. She cried not whenever she saw or could sense the phenomena of spectres and other ghostly beings. She didn't tell anyone. It was back to the fact that she didn't want anyone to worry about her. But did she need it? Did she get concerns from the other family members? Of course.

That was because she was the middle sister. Even pillars of strength need love. And she got it. From her father, her sister, her brother.

To Ichigo, she was stronger than almost anyone he had ever known, emotionally at least. She could hold her grief and release it in her own manners, and she didn't bother anyone while doing it. To Yuzu, she was just as an older sister should be, even if they were twins and born on the same day she was still older by a few minutes. To her father, well .. she wasn't even sure.

But she was a sister. A middle sister of steel.

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**A/N: **I don't own Bleach. First of all, I'd like to thank LJ users feather-down and stardust-rain for their imput! It helped out so much and I'm very grateful for it. Secondly, I'm not sure yet if I will make a chapter for Yuzu, but I am sure I may also try and make a chapter to tie the three I know I will be using (Karin, Rukia, and Orihime) altogether. I'm not sure which chapter I'm writing next, Orihime's or Rukia's, but look for it! I hope to have it out by the end of the month. 


	2. Princess Little Sister: Orihime

"A younger sister is someone who needs you - who comes to you with bumped heads, grazed knees, tales of persecution. Someone who trusts you to defend her. Someone who thinks you know the answers to almost everything." - Pam Brown

The mother was a drunken whore. She sat in front of her children, sipping her rice wine and demeaning both of them to their faces. Whether she had really meant it or not was unknown to both of her children. They had never seen her sober, and the very few times she hadn't been absorbed in her alcohol were the times they both grasped onto. Both of her children would sit down, upstairs in their shared room, dreaming of days past. But he always dreamed of when he'd be able to take her, the little princess she was, away from the hellish castle of misery and into a castle fit for her. Fit for the princess that she deserved to be treated like.

Whenever the father came home, she was beaten. Sometimes, she would cry. And in those cases she would, she would be beaten even harder. Sometimes the mother joined in, deep in a drunken stupor, and she'd cry even more. He couldn't do anything about it except console her after the damages were done.

In the March of the year the older brother turned 18, he took the princess and ran from the home. He ran away from the things that he knew had she been exposed to much further, would've damaged her. He never wanted her to be jaded from the world that he knew had such good things in it. He knew one day she would be better off and much happier than she would've been with them. And of course, the parents allowed the older brother to take her. It was less responsibility for them.

"Kakei!" Orihime's voice cried out. She had been looking for him for some time now. He hadn't come home after their fight. Their first and only fight over a pair of hairclips he had bought for her. The previous night, she refused to talk to him, to even look at him. She hated them so much! She wouldn't even say goodbye to him because she was so enraged that he had given her something so unattractive! Over the years she had been out of her parents' presence, she had become so spoiled with love and affection. This was the only time though, the dark behavior seeped from the usually sweet, timid, and cute little girl. She was naive to the fact that he had used all of his extra money, the money he wasn't using to buy food, pay taxes, pay rent, pay utilities all for her. The little sister he considered a daughter.

Now, Kakei, the older brother, stumbled over his own feet in the sidewalk. Kakei was drunk with depression, it was the first time he ever picked up alcohol and broke his own promise to himself that he would never drink alcohol after seeing what it turned his mother into against Orihime. He picked his head up when he heard his name spoken by the little sister. Across the street stood a little girl, her hair cut slightly shorter than it was the previous day. Carelessly, a young Orihime thrust herself into the street; she was unaware of the rapidly approaching car whose distance was closing in on her second by second.

It had only taken seconds to deal the pain that Orihime would now permanently feel for the rest of her time. Moments before the car was intended to collide with the young girl, instead, he had taken the brunt of the hit. He shoved her out of the road and felt the metal grind against his flesh, break his bones, tear open skin and reveal blood. He could feel his life slip away from him that very moment, he could feel the life exit him while he watched the blood pool out on the ground in front of him. It was so easygoing, just like the way he wanted Orihime to be like when he lived with the devil and the whore.

"Brother .. don't .. worry, I'll help you .. please .." she moaned, ignoring the pain of the scrapes and the skin grazing with open tears, while carrying the denser and bigger body above her own. His feet dragged along the sidewalk, and she did the best she could to hurry to the local clinic, the Kurosaki Clinic. She was worried that she was causing him too much pain by letting his fingers grate along the concrete on the path to the health facility. She didn't want him to be cut open even more than he already was. ".. please, Kakei .. please don't die ... I'm sorry ... I'm sorry that we had to ... please, just .. just don't die."

It was too late. Isshin did all he could to save the boy, while a young Ichigo tottered downstairs. But by the time an ambulance for a bigger hospital arrived, to take him away to hopefully saved his life .. it was just too late.

Years later, even time after Kakei had returned as a Hollow, unremembered by Orihime, she was sometimes asked about her hairpins. "Where did you get it from, Inoue-san?" they'd ask. And she, smiling like the princess she was, replied, "From my older brother, because he is the best older brother." She was careful with her wording, she never used was, but always used is. The ones who knew her story well enough were dumbfounded. He had been dead for some time now, so why did she continue to pretend as if he were still alive? Of course, she'd always follow up with, "He may be dead, but he still exists in my heart."

And Orihime would always think to herself, after praying to him, after waking up, _he is the best older brother because he made me who I am. He saved me from what I could've become. I am glad to have such a great older brother like him. Thank you, brother. I am glad to be your little sister.

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**A/N: **Thank you to KagomeHigurashi66 who told me Orihime's brother's name. I hadn't remembered it so I previously had it listed as Enraku. Next chapter is Rukia, and I'm a little nervous to start on it admittedly. She's very popular and I don't want to damage her! But expect it to be out in a few weeks it'll be delayed since I want to do heavy-duty research. Again, Bleach isn't mine. It's Kubotite's. 


End file.
